What does after-hours mean? After-hours describes something that happens after normal or legal hours of operation for a business or service, as in The after-hours party starts as soon as the bar closes for the night. After-hours can describe something that happens after its normal time, such as a business meeting that takes place after the close of the business day. In the US, many business offices close at 5 pm. A meeting that took place at 7 pm, for example, would be an after-hours meeting. After-hours can also describe something that happens after the allotted time. It’s generally used in situations in which something can be conducted after a business or program has ended and will still be honored. This use is most often used in reference to the stock market and investing, such as in the phrase after-hours trading. The New York Stock Exchange, for example, is only open from 9:30 am to 4 pm, but trading can be conducted at any time of the day. Finally, after-hours can simply describe something that happens late at night. You might find a restaurant that serves an after-hours breakfast, meaning they serve breakfast foods late at night, especially after midnight. Example: Joanie tried after-hours trading but found that she made more money during regular trading hours.
First recorded in 1925–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Shares in Meta were down as much as 12 percent in after-hours trading, a sign of analyst skepticism over the scale of the company's AI spending.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
The stock slid 7.6%, to $143.84, in after-hours trading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Shares of Qualcomm were down 6% in after-hours trading following Wednesday afternoon’s report.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Shares in Mondelez were up 2.8% to $64.20 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Just down the block an after-hours place had opened up.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Microsoft also reported its quarterly and full year results on Wednesday and it bucked a trend of declining tech stocks, with shares rising 5% in after hours trading.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Some of the babies passed after hours, some longer.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026
An AFP journalist captured rare footage at Al-Rahmaniyah camp showing exhausted women shuffling under a punishing sun, jerrycans swaying on their heads after hours spent waiting for water at a distant well.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
SpaceX shares rose slightly in after hours trading on Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Though the people who work there are not on the premises after hours, any sound we make might travel through the walls.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
